Detroit
Streetsblog Basics
SORRIEST BUS STOPS 2021: Trenton vs. Narberth (Yes, That Narberth)
March 19, 2021
Suburban Segregationist Brooks Patterson Breaks Up Detroit’s Hard-Won Transit Coalition
Representing the region's primarily white northern suburbs, Patterson is blocking a transit measure that would improve job access for black Detroiters.
February 13, 2018
Highway Planners Pause to Consider the Effect of Road Widening on Detroit Neighborhoods
Standard practice for the highway planners at state DOTs is to sacrifice all other concerns at the altar of fast car traffic. Nowhere has the effect been more obviously detrimental than Detroit, where the overbuilt freeway system helped hollow out one of America’s largest cities. But highway planners in Michigan are starting to listen to people who say they want something different.
June 19, 2017
Detroit’s Big Transit Success Story Isn’t Its New Streetcar — It’s the Buses
Today is the grand opening for the QLine, Detroit's 3.3-mile, mixed-traffic streetcar on Woodward Avenue. It's getting tons of local press attention, but TransitCenter reports that the Motor City's true transit renaissance is not due to the streetcar, but the city's successful, under-the-radar turnaround of its bus system.
May 12, 2017
Portland — And Soon, Detroit — Bring Bike-Share to People With Disabilities
Riding a bicycle is too often thought of as an activity that's off-limits for many disabled people. And that has continued to be the case with the bike-share systems getting off the ground in several American cities, which provide standard bicycles meant for the able-bodied. But that's starting to change, thanks to a yearlong effort in Portland that's the first of its kind in the United States.
May 11, 2017
The Fight for Better Access to Jobs in Detroit and Milwaukee, Using Buses
Low-income residents of Detroit and Milwaukee face formidable obstacles to job access. These two Rust Belt regions are consistently ranked among the most segregated in the country, and neither has a good transit system.
April 14, 2016
With Widening of I-75, Michigan DOT Will Deliver Another Blow to Detroit
The city of Detroit lost a stunning 25 percent of its population between 2000 and 2010. Even as the city struggles heroically to repair the damage, the Michigan state government is undermining Detroit's fragile recovery.
February 26, 2016
Detroit Bus Driver Contract Offers Bonuses When Ridership Rises
A new labor contract between the Detroit Department of Transportation and ATU Local 26 explicitly ties bus driver bonuses to ridership increases.
October 7, 2015
Detroit Breaks Ground on First Protected Bike Lane Project
The Motor City is getting its first taste of on-street protected bike infrastructure. Work has begun on a street redesign that will bring Detroit its very first bike lane where parked cars will protect riders from motor vehicle traffic.
April 3, 2015
Man Walks 21 Miles to Commute Each Day Because of Detroit’s Awful Transit
A piece in the Detroit Free Press about 56-year-old factory worker James Robertson and his 21-mile round-trip walking commute to the Detroit suburbs is going viral this week. It is both an amazing story of individual perseverance and a scathing indictment of a failing transportation system.
February 3, 2015